January 8, 2009

Though, like 75% of the country, I am hoping for a much better 4 or 8 years coming, despite the gloom and frightening downturn, there are those who are already severely disappointed in Obama for “reaching out” to people who should not be reached out to, but rather whose views should be outright rejected. I talk of course about the Rick Warren inaugural debacle.

John at AMERICAblog has been all over this - and rightly so. I’m sorry, the gay haters are not victims of intolerance when we fight against them. The whole thing has been a big showcase of ignoring-the-shoe-on-the-other-foot test. After all, if Warren had said “black people are like pedophiles” would anyone expect Obama to put him on the inaugural ANYthing? Nope. But because it’s gays, it’s OK to prop up and give honors to such a person who says these things about gays, and anyone who stands against it is victimizing poor gay-haters. Yeah, right.

But this one sentence from John really just describes it all - why we should be admonishing, not admiring, such people:

People are not born to hate. They learn hate, then act on it. And Rick Warren and his evangelical ilk are some of the nation’s best prominent teachers.

This whole thing is tarnishing all that Obama worked for. I’m all for a sort of postpartisanship - when it’s sane, not stupid, let’s not cut our nose to spite our face (*coughtaxcutswhenwe’reindeficitalreadycough*). But lauding people who hold the views Warren does about gays (and voices them incessantly to his flock) is not postpartisanship. It’s revictimizing the victims and giving legitimacy to the crap that spews from some of the most hateful, vile people in America.

I’m not saying that the US government throw Rick Warren in jail for his views and his free speech rights. I’m saying why the bleeping bleep is anyone giving him more of a platform to be an asshole? Marginalize the jerk. Don’t acknowledge him and then clap him on the shoulder for it.

Obama’s on probation, as far as I’m concerned. The jury is definitely still out - and that goes for his economic and domestic and foreign policies, too, given some of the appointments he’s made. I’m very skeptical of much of it.

10 Responses to “The Disappointment in Obama”

You’re 100% right. This is Obama’s First Big Mistake. If Warren made a statement prior to the Inauguration, stating clearly that homosexuality should not be lumped in with pedophilia, bigamy and incest - i.e. repudiating or “clarifying” his earlier remarks on the subject - there might be some welcome healing. But I’m not holding my breath for that.

Hope Change Change and Hope….. Oh wait he’s been more of the same since after the election!?! Wait he lied to us!?! I mean fresh faces were promised and we’ve gotten a bunch of Clinton retreads. At least you can still say he’s not a Republican

Napoleon began his career in the radical, anti-clergy wing of the French Left. He eventually rose to such a position of power that the Pope himself agreed to crown him Empiror of France - but insisted that he would only go through with it as part of a Catholic mass in which Napoleon took communion.

When his advisors asked him what he was going to do, Napoleon answered “France is worth a mass.”

Do you have any idea how helpful it is going to be to the cause of gay rights for the most famous evangelical clergyman in American to be broadly pro-Obama?

Again, shoe on the other foot. I’m certain you can find a horribly anti-black pastor out there in American too. So why not put him up as the inaugural invocation guy and reach out to his view point too? It would go a long way to healing the anti-black/black divide! (Nevermind the debate we should really have about having official prayer at a state function.)

How, just how, do you polish that turd? It doesn’t pass the smell test.

And what gay advancement under Obama? Really? Which openly gay cabinet position has been posted? They went all out of their way to put in minorities, etc. Hmm, just that one minority missing. He’s against gay marriage. He’s sorta for civil unions, oh good on him. DOMA and DADT will be a good start, but honestly, the country was already moving in that direction.

I think one answer is that Obama’s generation is not going to be the one that leads us to true gay rights - the next one (mine) and the one after that will be. Obama and his gen still think gays are the ick when they think about it too hard. (As a generation, individuals may vary.) But I ask again, why not an diehard anti-black, anti-woman, whatever, pastor on the pulpit? Because it’s teh gays, “people have different opinions about it.” They wouldn’t do it if the different opinion was that all blacks should go back into slavery, or the Holocaust didn’t happen. They shouldn’t be doing it in this case either.

Absolutely right, Lynne. This isn’t an example of Obama reaching out, this is an example of how Obama just doesn’t get it. I fear it will be another decade before the transition to recognizing gay people as people is complete.

There are a few other areas where I feel disappointed in Obama, but what I see as unnecessary concessions may turn out to be smart politics. I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt; he was smart enough to become president, after all.

Right lets drop WARREN , lets get the rev. jerimiah wright
he can stand up there and scream hate at all the white people
that are in attendance. he can start off with *&%$@@# AMERICA!!!!
Ithink obama is trying to reach out to everybody. give him the benefit
of the doubt.

I’m certain you can find a horribly anti-black pastor out there in American too. So why not put him up as the inaugural invocation guy and reach out to his view point too?

Because such a pastor would be greatly out of step with the large majority of Americans. Unlike a homosphobic one, sadly.

BTW, I have seen absolutely nothing that Obama has done to reach out to his VIEWPOINT. I’ve seen no defense of Warren’s homophobia, and in fact, I’ve seen Barack Obama speak out and take actions - such as appointing openly gay people to high government office - that directly refute Rick Warren’s VIEWPOINT on gay people.

I’ll take symbolic nods to the “traditionalists” and meaningful progress on gay issues like employmeht discrimination, family law, and military service over the opposite. I’ll take that deal every day of the week.